Interactive electronic ordering for telecommunications products and services

ABSTRACT

A system and method for exchanging telecommunication service information between a telecommunication service provider and a telecommunication service customer include electronically receiving a request in a predefined format to establish an interactive session with a telecommunications customer, determining whether the telecommunications customer is authorized for electronically exchanging information and continuing only if the customer is authorized, parsing the request to identify information related to at least one telecommunications service offered by the telecommunications services provider, the telecommunications service having an associated identification code, determining whether the requested telecommunication service is available in a particular location, and automatically generating information associated with the requested telecommunications service and transmitting the information using the predetermined format to the customer. In one embodiment, the predetermined format is determined by a standards organization, such as ANSI, and transmitted during an interactive session using a TCP/IP connection.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to commonly owned application Ser. No.09/055,846, now U.S Pat. No. 6,104,999 titled “Transaction Sets ForAutomated Electronic Ordering Of Telecommunications Products AndServices” and application Ser. No. 09/056,023, now U.S. Pat. No.6,137,873 titled “Automated Electronic Telecommunications OrderTranslation And Processing” all filed the same day, Apr. 6, 1998, thedisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

This patent is a continuation of: U.S. patent application Ser. No.10,727,323, filed on Dec. 3, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,937,714; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/251,332, filed on Sep. 20, 2002, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,681,007; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/798,576, filed on Mar. 2, 2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,487,285; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/056,001, filed on Apr. 6, 1998, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,249,578. The entire contents of these references are incorporatedherein by reference for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to electronic ordering oftelecommunications services and products.

BACKGROUND ART

Businesses of all sizes rely on computers and communication systems nowmore than ever before. However, the widespread use of computers has notbrought about the paperless office anticipated by the visionaries of the1970s. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been developed to provide astandard format for exchanging basic business data among firms thatregularly conduct business with one another EDI may be used to replace awide variety of common business forms including purchase orders,invoices, shipping and packing slips, and numerous others, to eliminatecosts associated with handling paper documents resulting in moreefficient utilization of resources and increased accuracy.

The structure and content of electronic documents are defined bytransaction sets. Similar to their physical counterparts, standardtransaction sets include line items, referred to as data segments, andspecific items, referred to as data elements. For example, data elementsin an invoice might include quantity, product identification, unitprice, and extended price Hundreds of approved (standardized)transaction sets have been published by standards committees for variousindustries.

Telecommunications services and products are currently ordered fromwholesalers primarily in a manual fashion, either by voice contact orexchange of paper forms. Where electronic methods are in use, they aregenerally batch-oriented, form-based file exchange processes, or utilizeproprietary interfaces which may include Internet browser technology,for example. While some telecommunication companies have implemented EDIordering systems, these systems typically require manual intervention toenter received EDI orders into the company's internal order system.Although EDI has been proposed for ordering of telecommunicationproducts and services for several years, there has not yet been asignificant implementation of EDI for this purpose.

Telephone Local Exchange Carriers (LEC) are now required to provide sometype of system and method for Telecommunications Carriers toelectronically place orders with an LEC for wholesale bundled exchangeproducts and/or services in addition to unbundled elements of thetelecommunications network. The various LECs have developed differingsolutions such as providing direct access to their internal orderingsystems, creating Internet browser forms for order entry, or creatingproprietary application-to-application interface protocols.

The various objects, advantages, and features of the present inventionwill be readily apparent from the following detailed description of thebest mode for carrying out the invention when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a Public Switched Telephone Network(PSTN) for application of automated electronic telecommunicationsproduct/service ordering according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a process forautomated electronic ordering of telecommunication products and/orservices according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a transaction flow diagram illustrating a pre-orderingexchange between a telecommunications provider and a telecommunicationsreseller as implemented in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an addressvalidation interface for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a featureavailability file for automated electronic telecommunications orderingaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment for featureavailability processing for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a CustomerService Record (CSR) interface for automated electronictelecommunications ordering according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a telephonenumber interface for automated electronic telecommunications orderingaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a due dateinterface for automated electronic telecommunications ordering accordingto the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating mapping and translationfunctions of one embodiment for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Automated electronic processing of orders for telecommunicationsproducts and services according to the present invention minimizes oreliminates human intervention to reduce or eliminate costs associatedwith handling paper documents. The present invention provides areal-time, interactive interface for telecommunications resellers toincrease accuracy and reduce turn-around time The development oftransaction sets particularly suited for telecommunications services andproducts provides a standard method for electronic ordering whereexternal access to dynamic data is required. Automated translation toand from unique or proprietary interfaces used by individual resellersto standard transaction sets further reduces manual intervention whileproviding increased flexibility for telecommunication product/servicesresellers.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a Public Switched Telephone Network(PSTN) for application of automated electronic telecommunicationsproduct/service ordering according to the present invention. The PSTN,indicated generally by reference numeral 20, includes a number of LocalExchange Carriers (LEC), such as LEC 22, which function as wholesalersfor telecommunication products and services. Each LEC 22 owns and/ormanages one or more Central Offices (CO), indicated generally byreference numeral 24, such as Central Offices 26-36. As is known, eachCO 24 typically serves a particular geographic area and includes varioushardware and software to deliver telecommunication services. Suchhardware includes one or more switches 38, 40 to provide a communicationpath for a telephone call. The various COs 24 are typically connectedusing one or more circuits 42 which are classified based on bandwidthcapability, signal protocol, or the like, as also well known in the art.

A telecommunications reseller 50 interfaces with end users or customers52, 54 to provide various retail telecommunications products andservices 56 such as caller ID 58, remote access call forwarding 60, andcall waiting 62, for example. Reseller 50 provides the customer servicefunctions including invoicing, collections, service inquiries, newtelephone numbers, directory listings, and the like. Each customer 52,54 may have one or more telecommunications devices 64 such as a computer66 or telephone 68, sometimes referred to as premises equipment (PE).Customers typically include both residential customers, such as customer52, and business or commercial customers, such as customer 54. Businesscustomer 54 may have a Private Branch exchange (PBX) which interfaceswith a switch such as switch 42 in the local CO 34. The PBX providesconnections between and among internal PE in addition to coordinatingaccess to external lines (circuits).

To provide prompt and efficient customer support, reseller 50 preferablyutilizes automated electronic ordering according to the presentinvention to provide telecommunications products/services 64 tocustomers 52, 54. Reseller 50 employs customer service agents 70 whichprocess requests from customers 52, 54 relative to telecommunicationsproducts and services. Customer service agents 70 preferably utilize oneor more computers 72 to enter information received from customers 52, 54which is then communicated to a message server 74 which preforms twoprimary functions. Message server 74 manages communications betweenitself and computers (clients) 72 while also providing a single accesspoint for communication with telecommunications wholesaler 22. Messageserver 74 communicates with a router 76 which preferably permits onlymessages conforming to the Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) between reseller 50 and wholesaler 22. Router 76communicates with DSU/CSU (Digital Service Unit/Customer Service Unit)78 to facilitate digital communications Depending upon the particularbandwidth requirement of reseller 50, i.e., the quantity, complexity,and frequency of transactions between reseller 50 and wholesaler 22, aparticular class of circuit 42 is selected and installed This mayinclude DS0 (Digital Service Level 0—56 Kbps)/DS1 (Digital Service Level1—1.5 Mbps) 90, Ti 92, frame relay 94, or the like.

Wholesaler 22 includes similar equipment such as a message server 100,router 102, and DSU/CSU 104. Messaging between reseller 50 andwholesaler 22 is preferably accomplished using a dedicated connectionwhich may be facilitated by one or more of the circuits described above.In an alternative embodiment, reseller 50 may communicate withwholesaler 22 via a Value Added Network (VAN) provider 110 operated by athird party. Preferably, a protocol such as SSL3 may be used to performmessaging between server 100 of wholesaler 22 and server 74 of reseller50. Alternatively, messaging between server 100 of wholesaler 22 andserver 74 of reseller 50 may be performed using a simple characterprotocol, such as the Enterprise Access Protocol (EAP). In oneembodiment, EAP commands are sent from the server 74 of reseller 50 toserver 100 of wholesaler 22 over a TCP/IP socket connection. The EAPcommands are used to establish an application session to exchangeelectronic information between reseller 50 and wholesaler 22. Eachmessage preferably includes a sender's reference (SNRF) which isgenerated by reseller 50 and used for routing purposes. This facilitatesthe distribution of messages by server 74 to customer service agents 70via computers 72. In a preferred embodiment, the SNRF contains a uniqueidentification code in the first six characters corresponding to aparticular reseller 50. The last six characters of the SNRF are reservedfor assignment by reseller 50 to uniquely identify a particular customerservice agent 70 or computer 72. This enables reseller 50 toappropriately route messages received from wholesaler 22 through messageserver 74.

Preferably, each message server 74 which interacts with message server100 of wholesaler 22 has a unique identification and password. Toimprove configuration flexibility, in one embodiment of the presentinvention passwords are required only at the start of a particularsession and are not required for each transaction set or electronicdocument exchanged. Also preferably, a packet filter firewall is usedwhich permits only packets destined for a correctly defined static IPaddress and service port to further improve security. The connectionestablished between reseller 50 and wholesaler 22 may be used totransfer files in addition to the defined transaction sets as describedin greater detail below.

Functional descriptions for representative transaction sets applicableto automated electronic telecommunications ordering according to thepresent invention are set forth in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Telecommunications Transaction Sets Transaction Set Description836 Reseller notification (Contract Award) 850 Purchase order 855Purchaser order acknowledgment 860 Buyer initiated purchaser orderchange request 864 Text message 865 Purchase order change acknowledgment870 Reseller order status 997 Functional acknowledgment

Preferably, all transaction sets are approved by a recognized standardsorganization such as the American National Standards. Institute (ANSI),or the International Standards Organization (ISO). In one preferredembodiment of the present invention the transaction sets conform to theANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, the committee thatdevelops and maintains generic requirements for EDI in the UnitedStates.

The electronic reseller notification transaction set is used to conveyadvance notice of a change of local service provider, confirmation whenthat change is completed, and notice if the planned change is cancelled.This transaction set is referred to as a contract award by ANSI.

The purchase order transaction set (850) may be used to provide forcustomary and established business and industry practice relative to theplacement of purchase orders for telecommunications goods and services.For example, the reseller would use this transaction set to requesttelecommunications services from the wholesaler. Preferably, thepurchase order is used to request any of the following types ofservices, each based on unique transaction identifiers contained withinthe transaction set: telephone number inquiries, reservations,reservation cancellations, and reservation confirmations; due dateinquiries, reservations, reservation cancellations, and reservationconfirmations; customer service record requests; and service requests.

The purchase order acknowledgment transaction set (855) is preferablyused as an acknowledgment from the wholesaler to the reseller. Thistransaction set provides scheduling information, telephone and circuitnumber information, and the like, in response to receipt of a purchaseorder transaction (850) for one of the transactions identified above.Purchase order changes are preferably communicated using the PurchaseOrder Change Request—Buyer Initiated transaction set (860). For example,the reseller would use this transaction set to request a change to apreviously submitted purchase order.

The Text Message transaction set (864) is intended to provide electroniccommunication for people, not necessarily for computer processing aswith the other transaction sets. The use of this transaction setrequires that the sender have certain detailed information about therecipient in some human-readable form. The recipient's network dictatesthe available capabilities for delivery of the information containedwithin the transaction. It is the responsibility of the sender to obtainthis information and include it in the transmission. This transactionset may be used to respond to a customer service record request toprovide information about an existing customer of the wholesaler to thereseller.

The Purchase Order Change Acknowledgment transaction set (865) is usedto convey acceptance or rejection of changes to a previously submittedpurchase order by the wholesaler or to notify the reseller of changesinitiated by the wholesaler to a previously submitted purchase order bythe wholesaler.

The reseller order status transaction set may be used to conveyjeopardies which occur on an order after the 855 transaction set hasbeen communicated This transaction set may be used to provide status onindividual line items of a purchase order or on the entire order.

The Functional Acknowledgment transaction set (997) is used to definethe control structures for a set of acknowledgments to indicate theresults of the syntactical analysis of the electronically encodeddocuments using other transaction sets. This transaction set includesdata segments used to identify which electronic document (transactionset) contains an error and where the error occurred within the document.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a process forautomated electronic ordering of telecommunication products and/orservices according to the present invention. As will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, the various steps, tasks, or functionsillustrated are not necessarily sequential in nature. As such, thepresent invention is generally independent of the particular sequence ororder in which the tasks or steps are completed. Various steps, tasks,or functions may be completed simultaneously, virtually simultaneously,or may be separated by minutes, hours, or days without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the present invention. Preferably, the presentinvention performs automatic electronic ordering of telecommunicationsusing computer-to-computer communications exclusively, meaning that nohuman intervention is required to reduce or eliminate keying errors,mishandled or lost forms, and the like. However, the present inventionincorporates exception processing which may include some level of humanintervention to process unique or as yet undefined transactions.

The functions, steps, or tasks illustrated in the figures are preferablyperformed by a programmed microprocessor executing instructions storedin or on a computer readable storage medium. One of ordinary skill inthis art will recognize that the functions, steps, or tasks areindependent of the particular type of instruction set, storage medium,microprocessor, or processing strategy and may be performed by software,hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, microcode, and the like,operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies mayinclude multi-processing, multi-tasking, parallel processing, and thelike without departing from the spirit or scope of the presentinvention. Computer readable storage media may include various types ofvolatile and non-volatile storage media including but not limited torandom access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmableread-only memory (PROM), electrically programmable read-only memory(EPROM), electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory,magnetic tape or disk, optical media, and the like.

Block 120 of FIG. 2 represents gathering customer information during apre-ordering process. This is typically performed by the reseller inresponse to a customer inquiry or request for a service. However, thisstep may also be initiated by the reseller or wholesaler underparticular circumstances, such as in the event of termination of servicefor non-payment, area code changes, feature availability changes, andthe like. For a representative transaction, the reseller gathersappropriate information depending upon the particular telecommunicationsservice or product. The resellers use internal computing systems, suchas computers 72, and/or databases to collect the appropriate items whichconstitute a particular transaction set for an electronic exchange ofinformation. However, the information necessary for a particulartransaction set may be scattered about various fields and/or databasesdepending upon the particular reseller's implementation. As such, theinformation or data is collected or mapped to a particular transactionset to form an electronic “document” as indicated by reference numeral122.

The gathered information is validated as represented by block 124 usingan address validation file 126 (illustrated and described with referenceto FIG. 4) and a feature availability file 128 (illustrated anddescribed with reference to FIGS. 5-6).

The information is translated into a standard EDI format as representedby block 130. Likewise, block 130 represents the reciprocal function oftranslating an EDI transaction received by the reseller back to thereseller's internal format. The translation function 130 allows thereseller to format the data conveniently for the customer servicerepresentatives rather than being forced to conform to the pre-definedEDI format. Automatic translation according to the present inventionreduces or eliminates human intervention to transfer the data containedin an EDI transaction into the reseller's internal forms and format.However, the standardized EDI format allows the reseller and/orwholesaler to conduct business with other wholesalers and resellers whoconform to the standard, respectively.

Once validated, the information is communicated from the reseller to thewholesaler (or vice versa) as represented by block 132. This may beaccomplished using a dedicated or direct connection between the resellerand the wholesaler, or by using a VAN as described above. While thiscommunication may be completed in a batch mode 134, it is preferablycommunicated using a TCP/IP socket connection during an interactive,substantially real-time session, i.e., while the reseller is “on-line”as represented by reference numeral 136. While batch processing may beused to take advantage of lower volume traffic during off-peak times,many resellers may desire realtime processing to increase efficiency,especially where errors may be present in the electronic data,regardless of their source.

The information communicated to the wholesaler is processed by themessage server, preferably interactively as indicated by block 138. Thisprocessing may include negotiating products and services 140,negotiating due dates 142, and exception processing 134. Preferably, theprocessing by the wholesaler is facilitated by a customer service recordinterface 146, a telephone number interface 148, and a due dateinterface 150. These interfaces are illustrated and described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 7-9, respectively.

Batch processing, represented by block 152, may include processingorders 154, in addition to transferring files to update featureavailability, represented by block 156, and to update the addressvalidation file, represented by block 158. In one preferred embodimentof the present invention, a commercial electronic file transfer programis used to transfer the address and feature availability files such asthe Connect Direct software available from Sterling Software of Texas.

FIG. 3 is a transaction flow diagram illustrating a pre-orderingexchange between a telecommunications provider and a telecommunicationsreseller as implemented in one embodiment of the present invention. Oncea relationship has been established between reseller 50 and wholesaler22, reseller 50 receives regular transmissions of a feature availabilityfile 200 and address validation file 202 for subsequent use inprocessing customer orders. When reseller 50 receives an order orinquiry from a customer, reseller 50 initiates an electronic request forcustomer service record information and transmits the request towholesaler 22 using either the purchaser order transaction set (850) asindicated by reference numeral 204. If the customer service recordrequest has appropriate authorization, the corresponding customerservice record is forwarded to the reseller using the customer servicerecord response transaction set (864) as indicated by reference numeral206.

Reseller 50 uses the feature availability file and address validationfile which was previously transmitted to verify the availability of therequested feature for a particular address and to authenticate orvalidate the address as indicated at reference numerals 208 and 210. Inone embodiment, address validation may be performed by the wholesaler ina realtime transaction rather than using a local address validationfile.

Preferably in separate transactions, a telephone number inquiry may beinitiated by reseller 50 and sent to wholesaler 22 using purchase ordertransaction set (850) with a transaction code of T10, for example, asindicated by reference numeral 212. Wholesaler 22 generates a responseusing purchase order acknowledgment transaction set (855) as indicatedby reference numeral 214. A telephone number reservation may then beinitiated by reseller 50 and transmitted to wholesaler 22 using purchaseorder transaction set (850) with a transaction code or type of T20 asindicated by reference numeral (216). In response, wholesaler 22confirms the telephone number reservation to reseller 50 using purchaseorder acknowledgment transaction set (855) as indicated by referencenumeral 218.

A due date inquiry, initiated by reseller 50 is sent to wholesaler 22using purchase order transaction set (850) with a transaction type ofR10 as indicated by reference numeral 220. Wholesaler 22 responds usingpurchase order acknowledgment transaction set (855) as indicated byreference numeral 222. This is followed by a due date reservationinitiated by reseller 50 and forwarded to wholesaler 22 using purchaseorder transaction set (850) indicating a transaction type of R20 asindicated by reference numeral 224. The purchase order acknowledgmenttransaction set (855) is again used to confirm the due date reservationas indicated by reference numeral 226.

Various other transaction pairs utilizing the purchase order transactionset (850) and purchase order acknowledgment transaction set (855) mayalso be exchanged. For example, a telephone number reservationcancellation may be initiated by reseller 50 and then confirmed bywholesaler 22. Likewise, a telephone number reservation inquiry may beinitiated by reseller 50 with an appropriate transaction code or type,such as T40 and confirmed by wholesaler 22 when appropriate. In asimilar fashion, due date reservation cancellations and confirmationsmay be initiated and confirmed by reseller 50 and wholesaler 22,respectively.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an addressvalidation interface for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention. Address validationinterface 250 provides regular address validation information updatesfrom the wholesaler to the reseller. Preferably, the reseller isprovided with a text file having fixed length fields for a particulargeographic area, such as one address file for each state. This allowsthe reseller to determine which central office (CO) services aparticular customer's address or Living Unit (LU). This information isvalidated as represented by block 252.

Using the address information provided by the customer and transmittedby the reseller, each set of address records is retrieved from theaddress file as represented by block 254. Each set of records isselected by matching one or more of the data fields including street,direction, zip code, state, and community name, as represented by block256. The house or building number is compared to determine whether it iswithin a valid range for the particular street and direction asrepresented by block 258. Subsequently, an odd/even check may beperformed where appropriate as represented by block 260. Any remarkswhich may provide additional information to be submitted on the serviceorder are represented by block 262. The system determines a uniquecentral office code corresponding to the address information to identifythe particular central office which services that address as representedby block 264. This information is then used to identify a rate band andaccess area information for the customer's address as represented byblock 266.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a featureavailability file for automated electronic telecommunications orderingaccording to the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, featureavailability interface 280 provides regular feature availabilityinformation updates to resellers from the wholesalers as describedabove. In this embodiment, the reseller is provided with three types oftext files having fixed length fields including a central office featurefile 282, a prefix feature file 284, and a prefix cross-reference file286. Preferably, each geographic region, such as a state, has associatedfeature files 282, 284, and 286.

Central office feature file 282 contains feature information for eachcentral office in a particular area code and one or more exchanges.Where a central office includes more than one switch, central officefeature file 282 contains information about which switch provides eachfeature as represented by reference numeral 290. Feature file 282 mayinclude information relative to features such as remote access callforwarding 292, call waiting 294, caller ID 296 and voicemail 298.Preferably, data elements within feature file 282 include the NumberingPlan Area (NPA), commonly known as the area code, the exchange whichserves the customer, the central office code, the date on which the mostrecent changes became effective, the feature Universal Service OrderingCode (USOC), the switch identification, a feature exception indicator,an additional exception indicator, and a call-waiting exceptionindicator.

Prefix feature file 284 preferably contains feature information 300 foreach prefix within the NPA, while also identifying the central officethat the prefix belongs to as represented by reference numeral 302. Inone preferred embodiment, prefix file 284 includes data fields for theNPA, exchange, central office ID, prefix, the date on which the mostrecent changes became effective, and indicators for: exceptioncall-waiting, remote access call forwarding, feature exception,additional exceptions, and the USOC.

Prefix cross-reference file 286 preferably provides a cross-referencebetween the prefix 304 and central office 306 containing the prefix inaddition to the switches 308 which service the prefix. The informationin this file is not required for standard processing of a customerorder, unless specific prefixes are requested.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment for featureavailability processing for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention. This process is preferablyused in determining available features in a particular. CO as well sdetermining switch identification for COs serviced by more than oneswitch. When necessary, the CO code or switch identification may be usedin a telephone number request. Using the CO code retrieved from theaddress validation process described above, the system retrieves thefeature record from the central office feature file by matching with thecentral office field as represented by block 310. The feature exceptionindicator is examined to determine whether the particular CO is servicedby more than one switch as represented by block 312. If the CO is notserviced by more than one switch with differing features, the USOC tablewill contain all of the available features for that particular CO. Usingthis list, the system verifies that the requested features are availablewithin the identified CO as represented by block 314. If any feature isnot available, an appropriate message may be generated before submittingthe request for a telephone number using the CO code as represented byblock 326.

If the CO is serviced by more than one switch with varying features asdetermined by block 312, then the additional exception indicator fieldis examined as represented by block 318. If none of the desired featurescontain an appropriate code in the additional exception indicator field,the desired features are available for all switches within the CO so thetelephone number request is submitted with the CO code as represented byblock 326. If any of the desired features do contain an appropriate codein the additional exception indicator field, not all of the desiredfeatures are available in each switch servicing the CO. In this case,the USOC table is examined to determine if all of the desired featuresare provided by any one switch as represented by block 320. If any oneswitch provides all of the desired features, then the switch ID is addedto the telephone number request as represented by block 322.

If all of the desired features are not provided by any one switch, allof the requirements will not be able to be met and the system (or aservice representative) must select the switch which provides either thegreatest number of features, or the most important features. For thisprocess, each feature may be assigned a code indicating its relativeimportance. The code may be determined by the reseller, the wholesaler,or the ultimate customer depending upon the particular application. Theswitch ID which satisfies a greater number of selection criteria is thenadded to the telephone number request as represented by block 322. Thetelephone number request is then submitted with the CO code and theswitch ID (where appropriate) as represented by block 326.

Using the feature availability interface in an interactive mode, thetelecommunications reseller can ensure that the desired features areavailable for the serving CO retrieved through the address validationprocess. Where the CO serving the customer includes more than oneswitch, the feature availability interface determines the switch whichcontains the desired features, or selects the switch which contains themost features based on quantity or importance. The reseller can use thevarious feature files to determine all of the areas in which aparticular feature is offered, determine which features are offered fora particular prefix (exchange), and determine valid prefixes for aparticular CO.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a CustomerService Record (CSR) interface for automated electronictelecommunications ordering according to the present invention. The CSRprovides the reseller with on-line customer service records. Thereseller obtains customer account information by submitting EDItransactions and receiving EDI responses. The reseller transmits arequest for a Customer Service Record using the appropriate transactionset (preferably 850-ASCX12 version 003030) which is received by thewholesaler as represented by block 350. The wholesaler processes therequest as represented by block 352 and generates one of three responsesrepresented by blocks 354, 356, and 358. Preferably, the responses arereturned using a different transaction set, such as the 864-ASCX2version 003030.

Typically, the request will result in forwarding of the appropriate CSRto the reseller as represented by block 354. However, the request may berejected with an appropriate message as represented by block 356. Forsome transactions, a letter of authorization is required as representedby block 358. If the transaction requires a letter of authorization,exception processing is performed by the wholesaler as represented byblocks 360-368. An immediate reply is generated using the appropriatetransaction set (preferably 864) and forwarded to the reseller toindicate that a letter of authorization is required as represented byblock 360. The appropriate CSR is then held in temporary storage asrepresented by block 362 for a predetermined time, preferably about 48hours, as represented by block 364. If a letter of authorization isreceived within the predetermined time period, the CSR is released tothe reseller as represented by block 366. Otherwise, the CSR is deletedfrom temporary storage as represented by block 368.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the CSR interfacealso accommodates requests received by E-mail. Resellers can send CSRdata requests to the wholesaler and receive either the desired CSR orerror messages in return. The CSR data and error messages have a textformat and are meant to be read by people rather than computers. In thisembodiment, the CSR interface uses the Flexible Communication InterfaceFormat (FCIF) developed by Bellcore. This format uses a tag valuemethodology. Each request starts with an asterisk (*) followed by a codeindicating the type of request. Braces ({ }) are used to enclose pairsof tag values and associated ASCII characters which provide the valuefor each data element Data elements are separated by a semicolon. Thepercent sign (%) is used to denote the end of a request. Several CSRrequests can be made within one e-mail by incorporating them into thetext of a single e-mail message. However, each request is returnedseparately to avoid any negative impact on the e-mail network Likewise,if the retrieved CSR data is particularly sizable, a response is sentindicating that the CSR has been retrieved but will be delayed foroff-peak delivery.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a telephonenumber interface for automated electronic telecommunications orderingaccording to the present invention. Telephone number interface 380provides interactive, on-line telephone number inquiry and reservationfeatures to the reseller In one embodiment of the present invention,four transactions are provided and handled on a real-time basis.Communications between the reseller and wholesaler are preferably basedon EDI message formats with 850-ASCX12 version 003030 used forsubmissions by the reseller and 855-ASCX12 version 003030 used forresponses from the wholesaler.

A telephone number inquiry as represented by block 384 may be submittedas a Purchase Order (850) with a transaction type of T10. Thecorresponding response is issued as a Purchase Order Acknowledgment(855). The telephone number inquiry 384 may be used to determine theavailability of a specific telephone number Given a specific telephonenumber, the system will respond with a message indicating whether or notthe telephone number is available as represented by block 386. Given aparticular NPA and prefix, the system will return a predetermined orrequested number of available telephone numbers as represented by block388. Given a preferred telephone number pattern, the system will attemptto match the available numbers to the requested pattern and return alist of available numbers that match the desired pattern as representedby block 390. The telephone number inquiry does not reserve telephonenumbers for subsequent use in a service order. A separate transactionmust be submitted to guarantee that the number will be held for arequester's service order as explained in greater detail below.

Telephone number interface 380 may also be used to assign a telephonenumber for use by a reseller in subsequent order processing asrepresented by block 392. This transaction is submitted as a purchaseorder with a transaction type of T20 The response is issued using thepurchase order acknowledgment transaction set. Upon receipt of thetelephone number assignment transaction, the telephone number isreserved for a certain period of time as represented by block 394. Inone embodiment of the present invention, the period of time is twohours. If a service order is not received within the predetermined timeinterval, the reservation is canceled and the telephone number will bereturned to the available telephone number pool for use by otherresellers and representatives.

A telephone number assignment cancellation request, represented by block396, is submitted using the purchase order transaction set with atransaction type of T30. The response from the wholesaler to thereseller is issued using the purchase order acknowledgment transactionset. Upon receipt, the system determines whether the request came fromthe same reseller that initially reserved the telephone number asrepresented by block 398. If the reseller ID matches, the reservation iscancelled as represented by block 400 and the previously assignedtelephone number is returned to the pool of available telephone numbers.Each request cancels only one telephone number reservation. Multipletelephone number requests are preferably not allowed.

A telephone number assignment confirmation is transmitted using thepurchase order transaction set with a transaction type of T40 asrepresented by block 402. The response is issued using the purchaseorder acknowledgment transaction set. This request is used to confirmthat a telephone number is still assigned to a particular reseller.Confirmations for telephone number assignments can be made only by thereseller making the initial reservation. As such, the reselleridentification code is checked against the previously submittedassignment as represented by block 404.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a due dateinterface for automated electronic telecommunications ordering accordingto the present invention. Due date interface 410 provides on-line duedate inquiry and reservation features. In one preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, due date interface 410 provides four transactionswhich are handled on a real-time basis. Preferably, all transactions aresubmitted using the purchase order transaction set (850-ASCX12 version003030) with responses from the wholesaler using the purchase orderacknowledgment transaction set (855-ASCX12 version 003030).

A due date inquiry is submitted with a transaction type of RIO asrepresented by block 412. This transaction may be used to determine theavailability of a specific due date as represented by block 414. Given arequested due date, the system will respond by indicating whether or notthe due date is available and can be met based on the required serviceorder activity. A due date inquiry may also be used to obtain a list ofavailable due dates when a premises visit is required as represented byblock 416. Given a description of the requested service order activity,the system provides the earliest possible due date in addition to a listof other available due dates. The due date inquiry does not reserve duedates for subsequent use in a service order. A separate due dateassignment transaction 418 must be submitted to guarantee that the duedate will be held for a particular service order.

Due date assignment transaction 418 is submitted using the purchaseorder transaction set with a transaction type of R20. A response isissued using the purchase order acknowledgment transaction set Due datetransaction 418 allows the reseller to reserve a specific due date foruse in subsequent order processing as represented by block 420. Thistransaction contains the same information as the inquire transaction 412with the exception that the reseller submits a specific due date and atime-of-day preference, such as morning, afternoon, or all day. A duedate assignment may be attempted without a previously submitted due dateinquiry.

Upon receipt of a due date assignment transaction 418, the due date isreserved for a predetermined period of time, such as two hours, asrepresented by block 420. The reseller must submit a service order forthe reserved due date within this time period or the reservation isautomatically canceled. All requested products and services should beaccurately represented on a due date assignment transaction. If thesubsequently submitted service order contains information different fromthe due date assignment which impacts the due date, the service ordermay be rejected.

A due date assignment cancellation transaction 422 is submitted by thereseller as a purchase order using transaction set 850 with atransaction type of R30. A response is issued using the purchase orderacknowledgment. This transaction is used to cancel a previously assigneddue date. The reseller identification is checked against the previouslysubmitted due date assignment transaction as represented by block 424 sothat only the reseller who initially made the assignment may submit acancellation request for that assignment. Each due date assignmentcancellation transaction cancels exactly one due date reservation.Multiple due date cancellations in one transaction are preferably notpermitted.

A due date assignment confirmation transaction 426 is submitted by thereseller using the purchase order transaction set with a transactiontype of R40. A response is generated by the wholesaler using thepurchase order acknowledgment transaction set. This transaction is usedto confirm that a due date is still in assigned status. Theidentification of the reseller is compared against the previouslysubmitted assignment transaction as represented by block 428.Confirmations of due date assignments are preferably only permitted forthe reseller who made the initial reservation.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating mapping and translationfunctions of one embodiment for automated electronic telecommunicationsordering according to the present invention. The mapping and translationfunctions being performed by the reseller, indicated generally byreference numeral 450, cooperate with similar mapping and translationfunctions of the wholesaler, indicated generally by reference numeral452, preferably using a TCP/IP connection, indicated by referencenumeral 454. Preferably, the mapping and translation functions areperformed by software executing on one or more computers, such as thecustomer service agent computers and message servers described andillustrated with reference to FIG. 1.

The data gathered by the reseller is entered into one or more databasesor forms 456 which include various data fields 458. Forms 456 preferablyrepresent various data entry screens on a computer operated by acustomer service representative. A mapping function is performed asindicated generally by reference numeral 460 to collect the informationrelated to a particular electronic “document” 462. A translator 464,also implemented in software, translates the data from electronicdocument 462 into an electronic message 466 using a standard transactionset. Message 466 includes several segments 468 each having a segmentidentifier 470, a data segment identifier 472, and a data segment value474. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the segmentsof a transaction set must occur in a particular sequence for properprocessing. A single electronic message 466 may contain multipleelectronic documents 462 which are concatenated in a single data streamAdditional information is added to electronic message 466 fortransmission via the TCP/IP link 454 to the wholesaler, such as routinginformation, error detection information, and the like, as well known inthe art.

An analogous reciprocal process occurs when the message reaches thewholesaler 452. Translator 480 parses electronic message 466 to identifyone or more transaction sets. Message syntax is examined and errormessages are generated when appropriate The received data is temporarilystored in electronic document 482 having data fields 484. Theappropriate information is then automatically transferred to thewholesaler's internal order system as represented by blocks 486 and 488.The order is processed and a response is generated, translated using thestandard transaction set, and transmitted to the reseller. By reducingmanual intervention, this system reduces operating expenses andincreases accuracy. Furthermore, a real-time response is generated andcommunicated to reduce turn-around time.

While the best mode for carrying out the invention has been described indetail, those familiar with the art to which this invention relates willrecognize various alternative designs and embodiments for practicing theinvention as defined by the following claims.

1. A method for exchanging telecommunication service information betweena wholesaler and a reseller, the method comprising: receiving anelectronic service request from the reseller, the electronic servicerequest configured in a predefined format; evaluating the electronicservice request to determine if the electronic service request providedby the reseller is an authorized electronic service request; determiningan identification code portion of the authorized service request, theidentification code related to at least one communication serviceprovided by the wholesaler, wherein the at least one communicationservice is available in a particular geographic area related to theelectronic service request; generating an electronic service response inthe predefined format, the electronic service response includinginformation related to the at least one communication service; andcommunicating the electronic service response to the reseller.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the generating the electronic serviceresponse includes automatically generating the electronic serviceresponse.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronicservice request includes establishing an interactive communicationssession between the wholesaler and the reseller.
 4. The method of claim3 further comprising terminating the interactive communications sessionif the evaluated electronic service request is a unauthorized electronicservice request.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating theelectronic response to the reseller includes communicating theelectronic service response via a Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol connection.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronicservice response from the reseller includes information from anend-user.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising transferring afeature availability file from the wholesaler, the feature availabilityfile includes information related to one or more communications servicesavailable in the particular geographic area related to the electronicservice request.
 8. A method for exchanging telecommunication serviceinformation, the method comprising: receiving an electronic servicerequest, the electronic service request configured in a predefinedformat and wherein the electronic service request establishes aninteractive session between a wholesaler and a reseller; determining ifthe electronic service request provided by the reseller is an authorizedelectronic service request; establishing the interactive session inresponse to the authorized electronic service request; determining anidentification code portion of the authorized service request, theidentification code related to at least one communication serviceprovided by the wholesaler, wherein the at least one communicationservice is available in a particular geographic area related to theelectronic service request; generating an electronic service response inthe predefined format, the electronic service response includinginformation related to the at least one communication service; andcommunicating the electronic service response to the reseller.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the generating the electronic serviceresponse includes automatically generating the electronic serviceresponse.
 10. The method of claim 8 further comprising terminating theinteractive communications session if the evaluated electronic servicerequest is a unauthorized electronic service request.
 11. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the electronic service response from the resellerincludes information from an end-user.
 12. A system for exchangingtelecommunication service information, the system comprising: acommunications network; a first computer communicatively coupled to thecommunications network, the first computer including a processor and astorage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a program executableby the processor, the program configured to: receive an electronicservice request, the electronic service request formatted in apredefined format; evaluate the electronic service request to determineif the electronic service request is an authorized electronic servicerequest; identify an identification code portion related to at least onecommunication service within the authorized service request, wherein theat least one communication service is available in a particulargeographic area related to the electronic service request; and generatean electronic service response in the predefined format, the electronicservice response including information related to the at least onecommunication service; and a second computer communicatively coupled tothe communications network, the second computer configured to receivethe electronic service response generated by the first computer.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the communications network communicates theelectronic service request and the electronic service response via aTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol connection.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the predefined format includes atelecommunications transaction set.
 15. The method of claim 12, whereinthe first computer is a wholesaler computer and the second computer is areseller computer.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the electronicservice request is provided to the first computer by an end-user. 17.The method of claim 16 further comprising a third computercommunicatively coupled to the communications network, the thirdcomputer accessible by the end-user.
 18. A method for exchangingtelecommunications service information between a telecommunicationswholesaler and a telecommunications reseller, the method comprising: (a)interfacing by the telecommunications reseller with an end user about atleast one retail telecommunications product or service; (b) establishingan interface session between the telecommunications wholesaler and thetelecommunications reseller; (c) electronically transferring a messageduring the interface session, the message including information for: (i)the end user, (ii) the at least one retail telecommunications product orservice and (iii) at least one telecommunications reseller reference,the message formatted in a telecommunications wholesaler format; (d)receiving a response to the message, the response formatted in thetelecommunications wholesaler format and the response generated free ofhuman intervention.
 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising: (e)translating the information from a telecommunications reseller format tothe telecommunications wholesaler format prior to (c); and (f)translating the response from the telecommunications wholesaler formatto the telecommunications reseller format.
 20. The method of claim 18wherein (c) comprises transmitting the response via a TransmissionControl Protocol/Internet Protocol connection.
 21. The method of claim18 further comprising: (e) determining whether the telecommunicationsproduct or service is available as a function of an address of the enduser of the telecommunications reseller, a central office which servicesthe address and capabilities of any system within the central office.22. The method of claim 18 further comprising: (e) transferring anaddress validation file from the telecommunications wholesaler to thetelecommunications reseller, the address validation file includinginformation for a particular geographic area relative to valid addressnumbers, street names, and street directions.
 23. The method of claim 18further comprising: (e) transferring a feature availability file fromthe telecommunications wholesaler to the telecommunications reseller,the feature availability file including information related to featuresavailable for a particular switch and an associated central office. 24.The method of claim 23 wherein determining whether the requested serviceis available is performed by the telecommunications reseller using apreviously transferred feature availability file.
 25. The method ofclaim 18 wherein the message includes information associated with arequest to determine availability of a telephone number, furthercomprising (e) comparing the telephone number to a store of availabletelephone numbers, and wherein the response is indicative of theavailability of the requested telephone number during the session. 26.The method of claim 25 wherein (e) comprises identifying a plurality ofavailable telephone numbers and wherein the response indicates theplurality of available telephone numbers.
 27. The method of claim 18wherein (a) comprises gathering data for a plurality of end users,further comprising (e) collecting the data in a document, wherein themessage is responsive to the document, the message including a pluralityof segments with each segment associated with different end users.
 28. Amethod for exchanging telecommunications service information between atelecommunications wholesaler and a telecommunications reseller, themethod comprising: (a) communicating information about at least oneretail telecommunications product or service from an end user to thetelecommunications reseller; (b) establishing an interface sessionbetween the telecommunications reseller and the telecommunicationswholesaler; (c) communicating a message during the interface session,the message including information for: (i) the end user, (ii) the atleast one retail telecommunications product or service and (iii) atleast one telecommunications reseller reference, wherein the message isformatted in a telecommunications wholesaler format; (d) receiving aresponse to the message, wherein the response is automatically generatedand formatted in the telecommunications wholesaler format.
 29. A methodfor exchanging telecommunications service information between atelecommunications wholesaler or reseller and a telecommunicationsreseller, the method comprising: (a) establishing a communicationsession between the telecommunications wholesaler and thetelecommunications reseller; (b) receiving messages during thecommunication session, each of the messages including information for:(i) at least one customer of the telecommunications reseller, (ii) atleast one telecommunications product or service offered by thetelecommunications wholesaler and (iii) at least one telecommunicationsreseller reference, the messages formatted in a telecommunicationswholesaler format; (c) processing each of the messages based on the atleast one telecommunications product or service; and (d) automaticallygenerating a response to each of the messages, the response formatted inthe telecommunications wholesaler format.
 30. The method of claim 29further comprising: (e) translating the information from atelecommunications reseller format to the telecommunications wholesalerformat prior to (b); and (f) translating the response from thetelecommunications wholesaler format to the telecommunications resellerformat.
 31. The method of claim 29 wherein (d) comprises transmittingthe response via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocolconnection connection.
 32. The method of claim 29 wherein (c) comprisesdetermining whether the telecommunications product or service isavailable as a function of an address of the at least one customer ofthe telecommunications reseller, and a central office which services aparticular geographic area.
 33. The method of claim 29 furthercomprising: (e) transferring an address validation file from thetelecommunications wholesaler to the telecommunications reseller, theaddress validation file including information for a particulargeographic area relative to valid address numbers, street names, andstreet directions.
 34. The method of claim 29 further comprising: (e)transferring a feature availability file from the telecommunicationswholesaler to the telecommunications reseller, the feature availabilityfile including information related to features available for aparticular geographic area.
 35. The method of claim 34 whereindetermining whether the requested service is available is performed bythe telecommunications reseller using a previously transferred featureavailability file.
 36. The method of claim 29 wherein the messageincludes information associated with a request to determine availabilityof a telephone number, wherein (c) comprises comparing the telephonenumber to a store of available telephone numbers, and wherein (d)comprises generating the response indicative of the availability of therequested telephone number during the session.
 37. The method of claim36 wherein (c) comprises identifying a plurality of available telephonenumbers and wherein (d) comprises generating the response indicating theplurality of available telephone numbers.